Shadow Prince
by sammi-star42
Summary: Challenge. He couldn't see the light in tomorrow. She hoped she would live long enough to see it. They hoped she could show him the light, and save them all from this black fairy tale. SoraxKairi RoxasxNaminé
1. A Black Fairy Tale

**Thankyou for clicking my story! I hope you enjoy it. This story is for Gray-Rain Skies Beauty and the Beast Syndrome. Please review when you finnish reading! Thankyou!**

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**Shadow Prince**

**Prologue**

**A Black Fairy Tale**

_Long ago, when heartless still roamed the earth and nobodies terrorized the millions of people living here on earth, there was a boy chosen to carry the legendary Keyblade. He traveled all around the world slaying heartless and nobodies to save all the people around him. With a smile on his face and nothing more then the Keyblade to guide him, he set out to save the world from the merciless grip of Darkness._

_But as time wore on, and a year past, the attacks barely slowed and the Keyblade Prince, as he was now called, seemed almost powerless to stop them. He decided he'd have to find the source of the Heartless and numerous people cheered him on, not thinking of how he may feel about it. No one seemed to care about the Keyblade Prince's feelings at all. With a heavy heart, the Keyblade Prince went to find the evil that was the cause of all the chaos. It didn't take long, much to everyone's surprise, and soon a battle raged as the Keyblade Prince tried to hold his own against the evil witch. But alas, he was nothing in comparison to her and she laid a curse upon his heart. The Prince told no one of this curse for he knew little more than none about it himself. Only that it could be lifted if he could locate and have one of the seven Princesses of Heart fall in love with him in two years._

_In the next one and a half years he searched endlessly for the seven Princesses of Heart, but only found six. Nobody even knew there was a seventh. In the mean time the Witch continued her bringing of darkness and began winning. For around a year the Keyblade Prince didn't suffer any effects of the curse. But as the second year began to approach something strange began to happen in his heart. A balance was off thrown, and the Prince found himself slipping further and further into the dark. When he left a town after searching for the seventh princess, a terrible monster would attack during the night. Nobody seemed to see a connection to the Prince and thought it was only bad luck. The Prince was still the hero to them, and although there seemed to be a small deplete in his health, he continued to fight for them._

_Eventually it got harder to call the Keyblade. It came and went as he tried his best to control the population of heartless and nobodies. Soon it didn't come at all. The attacks from the terrible monster increased. He fled to his castle, fearing what was happening to him. His castle was far away, on the top of a hill beyond a thick, dark, and dangerous forest. But there were still many small towns and villages were in the area._

_He kept silent about the curse to his brother and his brother's fiancé. They didn't understand why he had come back. They didn't understand why he would give up. He only mumbled a response to them when they asked. Ten months into the two years they witnessed a change in the Keyblade Prince. He became hostile towards them, snapping at any little thing. At night the Prince would disappear and would not be accounted for until the morning. News that a monster had attacked a town or village in the surrounding area would spread. The Brother and his Fiancé became suspicious._

_Shortly after dark one day, they hid in the darkness of the Princes room. They both hoped that nothing would happen. But they set they're hopes to high, and while the moon hung low in the sky they witnessed a terrible sight. The once Keyblade Prince became the dreaded Terrible Monster. The terrified lovers watched as the Monster jumped out the window and disappeared into the night._

_It didn't take very long after that for others to catch on. Questions hung in the air. People wondered why their beloved Keyblade Prince wasn't trying to save them. The Prince had hid in the darkness before, no one able to see anything but his eyes. But people began to hang lanterns and light candles to keep it light out. One night as a yellow glow hung over the town light reflected off the sleet and rain. Someone saw the prince this night. And instantly they knew it was him. Stories and rumors flew through the air like arrows, detailing what supposedly happened to the Prince. There wasn't much all the stories had in common, but there was one thing. The Keyblade Prince was no longer called that by the end, but instead the Shadow Prince._

_As the second year with the curse turned to the third, the witch paid a visit to the now Shadow Prince. Her identity wasn't known at first, she disguised herself as a disorientated girl, and the seventh Princess of Heart. It didn't take long for her to grow tired of her own rouse and reveal her true identity. She laughed at the Prince's insolence and strengthened the curse. But it wasn't limited to just him. It extended to the Prince's brother and fiancé. The terms for breaking the curse were the same. And he had 100 years to do it._

_But by then, there wasn't a shred of hope left in that blackened heart that a seventh princess even existed._

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**Prologue, done! Please review and continue reading! No flames, thanks!**


	2. Shadows

Thankyou for clicking my story

**Welcome Back to Shadow Prince X3 This is the first chapter, woot! Guh, this chapter took a lot of work. My mom accidentily deleted half the work I did on it at first TT oh well. I think it's better then what it was, but still a lot shorter then I'd have liked. Oh well, I'll make the next chapter very long for you D Enjoy the read!**

**Disclaimer: Not in a bajillion years**

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**Shadow Prince**

**Chapter One**

**Shadows**

_In which Kairi meets a kind traveler, and comes face to claw with the Shadow Prince_

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Kairi closed her book. It was by her favourite author, Rain Gray. She stared at the title of the book for a moment; this was her favourite out of all the books Rain Gray had written. She was almost tempted to ask the librarian if she could buy it from him, but she knew she needed the munny for more important things. With a sigh Kairi got up and grabbed her dark brown cloak from the chair. She picked up the book and put it back on the shelf. Kairi put her cloak on and walked towards the door, she nodded with a smile at the librarian and muttered a "thank you" as she pushed open the door and walked into the cold November air.

Her head turned back and forth as the walked down the dirt road, trying to memorize the quaint little town before she had to leave. Kairi had been here for a week now, she felt ashamed of herself for staying so long. She was doing laundry just to pay for this last night at the inn.

"Oh well," she breathed looking up to the grey sky, "I'll find you no matter what, father." Kairi continued walking, saying hello to anyone she passed, until she reached a large fountain. Beyond it was the inn she had been staying at. She walked past the building and slipped into the stable. It reeked of manure and some other things Kairi couldn't quite identify, but she was used to it. Her horse was in the back.

"Hey boy," she chirped happily holding out her hand for the animal to sniff. She petted its snout gently and spoke to it in a gentle voice. "We're leaving first thing in the morning, I promise." She grabbed an handful of oats from a bucket on the floor and held it out to her horse for him to eat. Kairi gave him one last pat and left the stable.

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Inside the inn Kairi tied her red hair back into a ponytail and tied an apron around her waist. She grabbed a large wicker basket and walked out of the basement of the inn. She climbed the stairs and began knocking on doors to gather the last night's bed sheets. Kairi's basket was filled to the brim with sheets as she began climbing the narrow stairwell to the second floor. Kairi climbed up slowly, trying not to drop the basket filled with bed sheets and pillow cases. She didn't notice someone trying to go down and she bumped into him, causing her to drop the basket and the other person to drop their belongings. White bed sheets scattered everywhere and a number of books lay at the foot of the stair well.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Kairi exclaimed as soon as she realized what had happened. She turned to the person and bowed slightly repeating the same line, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," until she felt a finger slowly tip her head up so she was looking at them.

It was a man, probably older then herself, with silver hair that fell over his shoulders. His clothes looked rather strange to Kairi. It looked somewhat like knights clothing, with armored shoulder pads and gloves. It was mainly green, white, and silver, and there was a strange heart shaped symbol on the front of it. He smiled at Kairi and removed his finger from her chin.

"Now, now, miss, accidents happen." He said kindly, his teal eyes shone through his silvery bangs. Kairi suddenly felt a little calmer. "My name is Riku; may I be so bold as to ask yours?"

"Oh, uh, I- I'm Kairi! Uh, I'm pleased to meet you!" Kairi stuttered and bowed again. "I'm really sorry for bumping into you! I'll pick up your stuff for you," She ran down to the bottom of the stairwell and started picking up the books as fast as she could.

"No, no Miss Kairi, it's quite alright. I wasn't in a rush to go anywhere." Riku laughed and joined Kairi at the bottom of the stairs. Kairi looked at the titles of the books she was picking up, and was particularly surprised when she saw a Rain Gray book.

"Uh, you read Rain Gray?" Kairi asked somewhat timidly, her voice shaking with slight embarrassment. Riku smiled and took the book from Kairi.

"Why yes, she's a brilliant author, don't you agree? Her stories are so captivating." He said with a passion. Kairi smiled despite herself and nodded. She and Riku began a very engaging conversation, and Kairi forgot all about the laundry.

"Driftwood is defiantly one of my favourites, but Dusty Floorboards is my absolute favourite," Kairi said cheerily, she was smiling brightly and was thoroughly enjoying Riku's company. She'd never been able to talk about her favourite books with anyone before. "Actually, that's the reason I've been here for the last week."

Riku raised an eyebrow, "You don't live here?"

"No, I don't. I'm actually doing to laundry to pay- OH NO THE LAUNDRY!" Kairi shrieked in sudden shock. She hurriedly picked up the basket and began stuffing all the fallen sheets back into it, somewhat messily too. She rushed up the stairs to pick up the rest of the laundry, when she reached the top she twisted her head around to look at the man she had just left behind and gave him a somewhat sheepish, apologetic smile.

"Perhaps we can continue this conversation in the morning?" Riku called from behind her and Kairi nodded against her better judgment.

"Maybe for a bit." She saw Riku smile and told her that he would be at the library at nine. Kairi told him she'd see him there with a smile and continued down the hall to pick up the rest of the laundry.

--

Kairi walked down the stairwell with a yawn. She had been up late last night doing the laundry and hadn't gotten much sleep. She didn't mind and waved it off with a smile. She walked into the lobby and up to the front desk. A girl was standing behind it, her back turned to Kairi. Kairi dropped her key onto the wooden structure and the girl turned around, somewhat startled.

"Oh! Kairi, you startled me!" The girl said kindly. She had dark brown hair laying over her shoulders and slightly sticking out at the sides. Her green eyes reflected a kindness that made Kairi smile. She looked down at the key and frowned. "I take it you're leaving then?"

"Yeah, I am. I'd love to stay and help out here Olette, but I really need to find my father," Kairi said with a regretful tone in her voice. Olette looked up and sighed, taking the key in her hands and gripping it tightly.

"No, I knew you'd have to leave eventually. It was nice having someone else help around here for a while though. Hope you find your father, Kairi." Olette replied sadly, a sad smile on her face. Kairi smiled and nodded then turned and walked towards the door. Just before leaving Kairi turned around and called back to Olette,

"I hope your father gets better!" Olette smiled and waved as Kairi ran down the street to meet Riku at the library. He was already there by the time she got there. They sat down at a table close to the back of the building. Riku broke the silence by asking the first question,

"Kairi, I'm curious, why are you in this town if you don't live here?" Kairi was a bit thrown off by the question. She had hoped to talk about books, but answered regardless.

"Er, well, my father has been traveling around the country. I'm not actually sure why, but he went anyway. He sent me letters describing all the places he went and all the things he saw. Perhaps he wanted to show me the world without me having to go," Kairi laughed, thinking about how protective her father was, "about two years ago his letters stopped coming. After a year of waiting, I made a list of all the places he'd sent letters from and went after him."

"Kairi… do you think he's alive?" Riku asked in a timid fashion. Kairi just smiled.

"Of course he's alive."

--

By the time Kairi and Riku had run out of things to say, it was well into the afternoon. She had learned that Riku was a traveler, who had had many grand adventures. Tales of monsters and bravery had captivated her, but she didn't really believe most of it. Her heart sank like the setting sun as she realized what time it was.

"Oh! I'm sorry Riku, I have to go!" She said hurriedly, pushing her chair away from the table and rushing to put on her cloak.

"Wh- what? Do you have to do work at the inn again?" Riku asked, getting up as well. Kairi turned around to look at him and smiled.

"I was planning on leaving today. It seems I lost track of time, my horse won't be happy with me…" Kairi trailed off thinking about what it would be like to be stuck in a cramped, stinky stable for a little over a week. She winced a little at the thought. It took her a second to see realized that Riku had a rather worried look on his face.

"You're going to leave… now?"

"Yep! I better get going. The sooner the better, right?" Kairi said cheerily and walked out the door. Riku followed behind her as she ran down the street towards the stable. Riku looked on as she spoke to her horse in a gentle manor, and fastened his saddle to his back, "I broke my promise, didn't I boy?"

"Look Kairi, I'll gladly pay for another night at the inn for you. It is my fault you didn't leave today," Riku offered in a worried tone. They were standing at the edge of the forest, Kairi was ready to say her goodbyes.

"No, I don't want to trouble you. Besides, I don't think he could stand another night in that stable!" Kairi exclaimed with a laugh. Riku just looked at her sternly, Kairi frowned at his expression, "Oh come on, smile!"

"Kairi, didn't you hear a word I said today? There's a horrible monster in that forest, you can't go in there at night!" Riku hissed threateningly. Kairi suddenly burst out laughing, startling Riku.

"Haha, I'm… I'm sorry…" Kairi gasped, she desperately tried to contain her laughter. "It's just… ha… you really believe that stuff don't you?" She stiffened as his face did not falter and he nodded solemnly. She wiped her eyes and looked at him, the man before her seemed different from the one she met on the stairs. Kairi sensed something angry, something scared, and overall, something power hungry. She had a knack for doing that, ever since she was little, peoples feelings seemed so clear to her. It was almost like she could pear into their hearts and see everything bad.

"I'm not lying to you. You really shouldn't go, ever since a hundred years ago… something terrible has lurked in that forest." Riku said, Kairi shook her head and smiled.

"I don't believe in monsters."

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At first the ride had been pleasant, the setting suns rays through the leaves in the trees. It had been beautiful. But as soon as the sun had disappeared and the moon covered by cloud, the forest became gloomy and depressing. Kairi pulled her cloak closer around her. She was glad that it wasn't quite winter yet, otherwise she could have frozen by now. She patted her horses neck, trying to calm him down.

"I know boy… You don't like riding in the dark… Please bare with it a little longer…" Kairi breathed, she took hold of the reins in both hands again. "Just a little longer," Her horse whinnied but continued on. The ride was silent for another hour.

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Kairi had begun to nod off, her eyes gradually beginning to close. Something stirred in her senses suddenly, and her head jerked up. There was someone else there, she could feel it. Something shattered, scarred, angry. It felt similar to Riku, and yet not at all.

"Hello? Is something there?" Kairi called out, "Riku? Is that you?" she pulled on the reins and her horse stopped. Kairi looked around, but all she could see was darkness. She shook her head, trying to dispel of these strong feelings. Kairi urged her horse forward, and it continued on at a slow pace. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, when she opened them again she saw a pair of bright yellow, disk like eyes in the distance. She gasped and shut her eyes tight.

"No such thing as monsters, no such thing, no such thing…" She whispered to herself over and over. She opened one eye slowly and saw nothing, so she continued on. The trees gradually began to thin, and a clearing appeared. Out of the clearing suddenly loamed a gigantic castle surrounded by a large black steel fence on a stone base. It was amazing.

"A castle… out here?" Kairi muttered to no one in particular. She dismounted to get a better look. As she approached the fence, her horse reared and ran off.

"W-wait! Come back!" She yelled, and then gave up with a sigh. "I really should've named that horse…" Kairi continued to walk towards the fence. The feelings she felt earlier became stronger. She looked around, and still saw no one. She looked at the fence, it was high and the tips seemed to be pointed. It was almost like this fence was meant to keep something in.

Kairi suddenly felt a pain in her head, and she was knocked down. She could see the hard stone base quickly approaching; her head collided with the edge of the stone. Her senses slowly dimmed and her eyelids began to close. But before she lost full consciousness, Kairi saw those bright yellow eyes.

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**Ooooh! Spooky. I think, I hope. Well yeah, that is everything I wanted in this chapter. And can you tell I'm a suck up? P Anyway, I hope everyone will PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks for reading!**

**p.s, reviews make me write faster and better so if you like the story, you'll review!**


	3. Unforgiving

**Welcome to another chapter of Shadow Prince! I thank you for reading this far, and I hope you enjoy!**

**Shadow Prince  
****Chapter Two  
****Unforgiving**

_In which Kairi meets the two other cursed and learns of things that she'd only heard of in fairytales._

xXx

"_How's she doing?"_

"_Okay. That really was some bump on the head, she really is lucky to be alive."_

"_You've said that several times Naminé,"_

"_I know… but it is true. Few people, especially girls, come away alive."_

"_I guess…"_

Kairi slowly awoke to the sound of people talking. Everything was blurry when Kairi opened her eyes. She could vaguely make out two figures to her left. Her mind was blank aside from a sharp pain. All her muscles ached and cried out in pain.

"Ah, she's awake," One figure said, it was a girl. Kairi blinked several times, trying to clear her vision. Little by little she was able to make out her surroundings. She pushed herself up into sitting position and stared at the girl sitting in a chair to the left of her bed. Her skin was very pale, almost like it had seen no sun in years. Her hair was pale blonde, cut a little short on the right with the rest swept over her left shoulder. Her blue eyes had a gentle and calming effect on Kairi. Although she seemed so frail, Kairi thought she was very pretty. Her clothing was a plain white dress.

"Psh. It isn't polite to stare you know." A male voice said in an accusing tone. Kairi turned her head to look at the other figure. He was standing, looking at Kairi with almost emotionless blue eyes. His hair was a darker, almost dirty, blonde. It stuck out at the bottom and was styled to his left and then spiked up. He was wearing a black cloak that had a checker pattern on the bottom. His arms were crossed against his chest; Kairi thought he looked rather strong. He and Kairi stared at each other for a long time before she finally broke off and looked around the room.

It was fairly large, with a large picture window on the wall to Kairi's left. Everything in the room looked old, and was dust covered. The canopy bed she was sitting in had its canopy torn and ragged looking even. She was still looking around the room when she felt something press gently against her shoulders.

"It would be best if you didn't strain yourself right now." The girl said. Kairi obeyed, lying back down. The girl turned to look at the boy, "Roxas go get her some tea." The boy, Roxas, left the room with a grunt.

"… Where… am I?" Kairi asked quietly. She turned her head to look at the girl. She smiled sweetly.

"This… is Castle Oblivion. Of course it wasn't always called that…" She trailed off. Kairi cocked her head slightly. "I'm Naminé, and that was Roxas. What's your name?" Kairi looked up in thought, searching her mind for her name. "Ah… I see. That must have been one nasty hit to the head,"

"… Ka… Kai… Ri… Kairi…" She said slowly. Things became a little clearer in her mind, basic things like her name. Slowly things came back to her, like what she'd been doing for the past year. She knew she was missing something. Suddenly a pair of bright yellow eyes appeared in her minds eye. Kairi gasped and shut her eyes tight in fright.

"Are you okay, Kairi?" Naminé asked, something that seemed like worry laced her voice. Kairi put her hand on her forehead only to recoil when she felt a sharp pain. Naminé looked at her, a soft expression on her face, "No, I wouldn't do that if I were you; you hit your head pretty hard."

"A… ah," Kairi mumbled. She realized that she was covered in bandages. There were some on her head, covering her arms and hands, legs, and finally stomach and chest. She wondered if they were all caused by the monster she met last night. Kairi looked at Naminé, she smiled sweetly. But her eyes seemed to say something different. She turned her head to look away from Naminé; something just didn't seem quite 'right' about her. Kairi thought that anything she said seemed a little fake, and her eyes didn't seem to portray any emotion. She had gotten that feeling from Roxas as well, except the feeling it was stronger coming from him. Kairi stared at the wall, contemplating the two people she'd just met.

A large painting was hung on the wall, it looked old and the colours were dull. Kairi looked at it, it was of a boy. They were kneeling down, holding a large key like weapon with one hand and the other resting on his lap. He was wearing a light blue cape over a darker blue t-shirt and some black shorts. Kairi's eyes scanned further up, his cape was wrapped around his neck like some a large scarf. From under the folds of the cape a chain necklace emerged, a three point crown pendant hanging from it. He had chocolate brown spikes for hair and a small crown was perched a top his head. But there was one thing that made Kairi raise and eyebrow, though, where the face should have, was instead a large tear revealing the frame behind. The tear was large and completely obscured the face.

"Who's that?" Kairi asked turning her head to look at Naminé once again. Naminé looked away towards the door, seemingly not wanting to answer.

"That… was my brother." Kairi turned her head to look at the door, where Roxas had just entered. He held a round steel tray in his hands with three cups and one kettle on it. He handed one cup to both Kairi and Naminé, put the tray on a nearby end table, and finally sat down on a chair.

"Was…? Is he dead or something…?" Kairi asked with an unsure tone. She sipped her tea slowly. It made her feel a little better. Roxas shook his head.

"No. He's suffering a fate far _worse_ then death." Kairi cocked her head slightly and thought, _A fate worse then death?_ Roxas drew in a deep breath, "His name is Sora. When he was four and I was three, our parents died. In the orphanage, while we were living there a large mysterious key came to Sora. It's called a keyblade. Of course we didn't know that at the time. We mostly used to sneak around the orphanage, get into the kitchen for extra snacks, stuff like that.

"A year later one of the staff found out about the keyblade. News about it spread pretty fast. We were both adopted by King Mickey, and treated like his own sons. When Sora turned ten the King started training him to be a warrior. Sora really took to it. Usually I'd watch him train, I wasn't really good with weapons. When he turned fifteen, Sora left to wage war with the Heartless." Roxas paused and looked at Kairi. She wasn't quite sure if she understood, but she sipped her tea and waited for him to continue. "I left the main castle and moved to this one after Sora left. Naminé worked here as a maid. But anyway, Sora came back a couple of times, but after about two and a half years he came back, completely different from the person I used to know. Eventually we found out that the Witch Maleficent, leader of the Heartless, had put a curse on Sora's heart. She came here one day and put a curse on the entire castle. And thus, here we are today. Sora cursed to be a blood thirsty beast, Naminé and I empty shells with out a heart or emotion and you, most likely going to die at the claws of my brother."

Naminé glanced at Roxas sternly, "Don't scare her, Roxas."

"… How can you be alive… with out a heart?" Kairi asked quietly, she sipped her drink silently. Roxas sighed.

"Everyone has two hearts, one pumps blood and is essential for living, while the other holds all your emotions and lets you be able to portray them properly. The mind and heart work together to create emotions, the mind tells the heart what emotion to produce and then you are essentially able to… well have emotion. Naminé and I are what most call Nobodies; shells of their former self, unable to produce emotion. Nobodies are made when a person loses their heart to darkness. The heart turns into a creature know as Heartless, although they actually have hearts. Essentially they are merciless monsters who attack anything with a heart." He explained slowly. Kairi just looked at him, wide eyed. She'd never known any of this, although she'd heard of Heartless the details were foggy since the war had ended so long ago. "Naminé and I never lost our hearts to darkness though. This is just the power of Maleficent. She said we could break the curse, if one of the Seven Princess of Heart fall in love with Sora, and vice versa."

"I… I see…" Kairi wasn't quite sure what to think, she wasn't sure if she should believe any of this. "But… you said you could break the curse if a Princess of Heart fell in love with Sora… right?"

"Yes, that's correct." Naminé sighed. "But no matter how hard we looked, we could find the seventh. You see, we have to find all seven as well. The six Sora did manage to find had a suitor already."

"Uhh… lets see there's Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Bell, Jasmine, and… Alice." Kairi said thoughtfully, she lifted one finger as she went down the list. "That's only six though."

"Yes, that's the problem. There _is_ no seventh Princess. Nobody has heard of one. It was just one of Malifecent's dirty tricks." Naminé said, looking away. Roxas had his eyes closed, and his head was down. An unsettling silence fell upon the group of people. Kairi finished her cup of tea and placed it on the end table. Roxas stood up, still looking down.

"I'm going to check on brother." He said simply. He took the tray and the tea cups and left the room. The silence persisted, and Kairi eventually fell nodded off into a somewhat peaceful sleep.

xXx

Kairi awoke some time later. She looked around the room to find it void of life. Outside she could see it was already dark. She somehow found the strength to get herself out of the queen sized canopy bed. Her legs wobbled as she stood on them, and she found that much of her clothes had been torn. Her chest was completely bandaged and pretty much all she was wearing was her badly torn skirt (which was formerly part of a short dress). Kairi spotted her cloak and wrapped it around herself. Taking one last look around the room, Kairi opened one of the large doors, and slipped out silently.

The hallway was _huge_. To her right it stretched quite a ways until there was finally a door. The carpeted floor was dusty yet soft under her bare feet. Kairi started walking towards the left, where she could not make out a visible end to the hall. There were doors every couple of meters, most probably leading to unused rooms seeing as only three people (that Kairi knew of) lived in this immense place. Paintings hung in the hallway. They were in a slightly different style then the one in the room she was in. All of them were of Roxas. Kairi absent mindedly wondered why, but shrugged it off. Soon enough she reached a set of stairs. It went down several steps and led to a platform which then had one gigantic set of stairs that seemed to lead to the main floor.

Across from her was another set of stairs which led to another part of the castle. Kairi took the large one that led to the main floor. The concrete was oh so cold against her bare feet. Kairi continued on, ignoring the cold and exploring the castle. She found several rooms with layers of dust and cobwebs covering them. Eventually Kairi came across the ballroom.

It was the biggest room she had every seen in her life. It had hardwood floor and an extravagant chandelier. The walls were covered with faded red fabric. Kairi could only imagine what it had been like when it was in use. She slowly walked through it and made her way to the dinning room. It was also quite large. A large table was in front of a huge unlit fireplace. She marveled at the extravagant furniture and features of the room until a voice filled her ear.

"It's dangerous to walk around alone you know. Especially at night." Kairi turned around in a flash to see Roxas.

"You… You scared me!" She cried, still startled about his sudden appearance. She was amazed she hadn't noticed him, it was dead quiet in the room. He was like a ghost, and she couldn't sense his feelings. She guessed the story was right, they really didn't have any emotions. Roxas shrugged absently, looking away.

"Come with me, Naminé is in the kitchen." He said evenly turning around. Kairi followed him as they walked through some swinging doors and into a brightly lit kitchen. She saw Naminé, her back turned to the both of them, she was obviously cooking. "Nam, I found Kairi wandering around in the dinning room."

Naminé turned around to look at the two and smiled warmly, her eyes closed, "Oh Kairi! I didn't expect you to be up and about so soon with those injuries. You must be hungry, I'm just finishing some soup,"

"Uh… yeah." Kairi nodded. Roxas showed her to a stool at a bar. Naminé poured the soup into some bowls and set them in front of Kairi and herself.

"We usually eat in here instead of the dinning room. It's kinda depressing in there," Naminé smiled again. Kairi was amazed at her ability to fake emotions. If she hadn't been good at sensing things she would have totally bought it. "And that reminds me, Roxas, we're running out of food supplies again. Could you go get some in the morning?"

"Yeah, whatever." Roxas replied in his usual uncaring tone. Kairi cocked her head to one side,

"But I thought you were cursed?" She said confusion lacing her tone.

"That doesn't mean we don't have to eat," Naminé said jokingly.

"Well… Mind if I go too then? I mean I need some new clothes… All I'm wearing is this cloak, some bandages and part of my dress." Kairi admitted, she could feel her cheeks go red with embarrassment. Roxas looked away and Naminé seemed to giggle (or at least try to).

"I'm sure something can be arranged. You can wear some of my clothes for now," said Naminé. Roxas looked at Naminé with all the rage he could muster in his current state.

"Naminé! What're you thinking?! She can't leave the castle, she'll be in even more danger if she leaves!" Roxas hissed, he lowered his voice, "Who knows what brother will do to her,"

"Just take her with you, I'll make sure his highness is to busy to notice," Naminé smiled at Kairi. She wasn't quite sure what to think about the situation, but she was glad that Naminé was on her side.

"C'mon, I'll take you back to your room." Roxas was already at the door. Kairi was taken a bit off guard and almost instantly got up. Before she walked about Naminé grabbed her hand and whispered to her,

"Don't worry if he seems a little insensitive. He's still not used to it,"

xXx

Something sinister lurked in the hallways that night, pacing uneasily back and forth in the middle of the hallway. Its razor sharp claws dug into its leathery skin as it lost itself in deep thought.

The Shadow Prince could not seem to settle down. His world had in a single second been turned upside-down. Pain had always helped before, he continued to drive his claws into his arms, but he still couldn't seem to calm himself. He gave up, and stopped pacing. Black goop oozed from his wounds and dripped onto the carpet. It was something that happened often and the carpet could show for it. He walked into his room, ignoring the bleeding cuts. He took to pacing in the dust covered room now, a path well worn after so many years.

There was a knock at the door, "Brother?" the black entity didn't respond. The door creaked open and now the Prince was no longer alone with his thoughts.

"You seem troubled…" Roxas stated before spotting the ooze slowly flowing from the Prince's arms, "You hurt yourself again!"

"So?" The Prince growled staring at his younger brother with yellow-green eyes. Roxas shook his head,

"You shouldn't do that is all…" The Prince growled and looked away.

"It helps me calm down."

"You don't look very calm. I can tell you were pacing before,"

A heavy silence fell over the room like the many layers of dust had done. The Prince looked over his shoulder and grunted after a while,

"What did you want anyway, Roxas?"

"Naminé said we need more food supplies. I'm going to go get some in the morning."

"You needed to tell me this because?" The Prince asked, obviously annoyed now. Roxas took a couple steps towards the Prince,

"I thought you'd like to know,"

"Not particularly." The Prince stated flatly. He really wasn't in the mood for this. His head was already swimming with other 'pressing' matters, Roxas was only worsening it in his opinion.

"Sora…" Roxas whispered, and then left. His brother was defiantly losing more and more of himself every day. It had only been a little under a month ago that the black hearted Prince had scolded him for leaving with out permission. He shook his head, trying to forget a unpleasant thought.

Time was unforgiving, and running out.

xXx

**Whoo! It was really hard to write Naminé and Roxas because of their lack of emotions, but I got through it. I really find it odd how the game never really touched up on the 'Nobodies don't have hearts' department. So I devoloped my own theory about it. So, that's my theory. Feel free to opose it or whatever, but it isn't changing. Sorry!**

**Next chapter Kairi and Roxas go off to get food! I hope I'll see you there**


	4. The Glass Heart

**EEK! It's been so long! I'm sooo sorry for the lack of updates! You all must hate me now T_T Anyway, just wanna let you know this chapter gets rather light hearted by the end... BUT DON'T BE FOOLED =D anyway, on with the show!**

**Shadow Prince**

**Chapter Three**

**The Glass Heart**

_In which Kairi finds the truth about her father, Roxas is dubbed a stick in the mud and Sora and Kairi share a moment_

xXx

Kairi and Roxas were standing at the gate to the castle. Kairi was wearing her cloak and a white dress of Namine's along with holding a large basket to put the groceries in. Roxas turned to look at her. Kairi cocked her head to one side, "What?"

"Look, I'm just going to be frank with you, as soon as I walk through that gate I'll disappear to you." He stated in a casual way that only confused Kairi further. She furrowed her brow. "I know it sounds ridiculous but it's true. Outside castle grounds normal people can't see me."

Kairi remained silent for a moment then, "I guess its part of this whole 'cursed' thing, right?" She smiled. Roxas nodded solemnly and opened the gate. He stepped out first. Kairi saw a shimmer of light as he passed through the gate. Kairi followed suit and looked around. Roxas was standing right beside her, albeit he was transparent, but she could still see him. "Roxas… I can still see you,"

"Huh? What? You can?" He questioned, blinking rapidly. Kairi nodded and told him that she could see him but he was transparent. Roxas began walking away after that and told her to follow him to town.

"Hey, this isn't the way to Twilight Town!" Kairi called to the transparent boy walking far ahead of her. She had expected them to go the previous town she had been to, which was Twilight Town. He turned his head and looked back at her but continued walking,

"No, we're going to Traverse Town. It has a large market and will have everything we need." Roxas looked ahead again, a path he'd obviously walked many times. Kairi just followed him. When they got to Traverse Town all Kairi could see were merchants stalls and the huge crowds. Roxas grunted.

"What is it?"

"It's busier then usual. You better be careful." Kairi was about to ask why but Roxas had already disappeared into the crowd. She sighed and began weaving through the large crowd and trying to find Roxas as well.

xXx

"Hey, Roxas, look at this!" Kairi had long since forgotten that she was basically talking to thin air with Roxas there. People turned to look at who she was calling to, but saw no one. A girl in a black cloak and fluro green shoes muttered to herself about all the crazies in town. Roxas slapped his head with the palm of his hand,

"Kairi, nobody here can see me! Stop before your deemed the town weirdo," he sighed walking over to the girl. Kairi pouted,

"Don't be such a stick in the mud, Roxas! Now look at this," Kairi whined and then pointed to a stand with a large number of jeweled necklaces and bracelets. An old man wearing a blue pointed hat and had a long white beard appeared from the shadows of the stand. He was stroking his beard fondly and giving her a kind smile.

"Why hello, miss. How might I help you this fine morning?" He asked, still smiling. Kairi couldn't help but smile back.

"Just appreciating these beautiful necklaces, who made them?" Kairi had always been fond of jewelry; her mother had been a jeweler herself. But due to her sudden illness, Kairi's mother had to close down the small shop and all its money went to trying to find a cure.

"I did actually, name's Merlin, nice to see someone who appreciates my work!" At that the elderly man held out his hand to shake, Kairi gladly took it.

"Kairi! And I don't see how anyone couldn't like it," Kairi said, gazing at the large number of beautiful stones and intricate metal work. Merlin laughed.

"That's not what I meant."

Kairi liked Merlin; he was kind and light hearted. She had lost track of Roxas while she chatted, but eventually he pulled on her arm and told her that they should go. Merlin raised a thick white eyebrow as she told him it was time for her to go,

"I really should get going, but it was nice talking with you! I hope we can speak again sometime," Kairi smiled kindly. Merlin nodded saying he understood and picked a necklace out of his selection and handed it to Kairi.

"Here, take this as a thank you for giving an old jeweler some company," Merlin winked with a smile. Kairi tried refuse but the old man put the necklace in her hand and curled her fingers around it. She smiled and said thank you. Kairi was walking away when she actually took a good look at the necklace. Its pendant was a smooth teardrop shaped white stone hung on a black thick string. She looked at the necklace for a while as she walked, not paying any attention to where she was going. Eventually, Kairi walked into someone.

"Eeek!" She squealed dropping the necklace onto the ground, then realized she'd walked into someone, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Kairi?"

Kairi looked up to see familiar teal eyes almost covered by silvery bangs staring at her.

"Riku! Seems I keep running into you… literally…" she trailed off, looking to the side. Suddenly she wondered where Roxas was and why he wasn't telling her they should really be leaving.

"You dropped this," Riku interrupted her thoughts and handed her the necklace Merlin had given her.

"Oh! Thanks! Anyway," Kairi smiled gratefully taking the necklace from Riku's hand, "I really have to get going," she really didn't feel comfortable at all right now. She wanted Roxas there, even if no one else could see him.

"Where to?"

"Er, just around. I'm running errands for the local hotel," Kairi said hurriedly, she wondered if it was obvious she was lying. He raised an eyebrow and quickly looked at the large basket she was holding with one hand. Kairi smiled apologetically at Riku. He closed his eyes and nodded,

"Alright, I'll let you go," he nodded. Kairi let out a sigh of relief. Riku's gaze wandered past Kairi, she tilted her head and turned to see what he was looking at. She was relieved to see Roxas, watching her from a distance. As soon as he caught her gaze, Roxas looked away. Kairi wondered why Riku was looking in that direction, surely he couldn't see Roxas? She looked back at Riku, faking the best confused look she could.

"What are you looking at?"

"Huh? Oh nothing. So, had any luck with your father?" Kairi blinked, her father? She hadn't thought about him since she'd woken up back in the castle.

"No… Nothing actually," she said softly, overcome by guilt suddenly.

"Well maybe I've seen him,"

Kairi described her father to Riku the best she could, she didn't know where the picture she had of him was. Probably with that damn horse. Riku nodded slowly as Kairi did her best, but in the end he said he hadn't seen him. The two parted ways and Kairi, cautiously, headed back to the castle. Roxas came up beside her,

"Jeez, you're chatty," he said simply, "we could've been back by now if you hadn't kept talking to people."

"Sorry."

There was silence for a long time after that. Roxas was slightly in front of Kairi, leading her through the trees to the castle.

"… I heard you talking to Riku about your father. I really… I think he might have come by the castle," Kairi perked up instantly.

"He did?!" Kairi could see Roxas nod.

"But… Kairi… I don't think he ever left."

xXx

Kairi wandered the castle, slightly aimlessly. She found the library, where she spent some time reading books, and was now sitting on the stairs. Her eyes were a little puffy, and her nose was still a little runny but Kairi considered herself to be okay. Somewhere deep down, she'd always known that her dad was dead, yet she always refused to believe it.

And that's what led her here.

To this castle.

To, what she assumed, death.

Kairi stood up, turned around on the ball of her heel and walked up the stairs. But instead of turning left to go to her room, she turned right. She was curious to see what was down this hallway.

Most of the doors were closed, and the hall got darker and darker the further she went. Eventually she heard a slight crunching noise under her feet; she looked down to see that she'd stepped in something. It was dry and hard. Kairi shrugged and continued walking. A little further down the hall she found a doorway that was open. Slowly she looked into the room.

It was just as dark as the hall, but a little crack in the curtain allowed some light to come in. It was dust covered and Kairi could see the carpet was covered in the same sort of crust she'd stepped in before. The bed's sheets were torn and ripped like a wild animal had had a go at them. In middle of the room there was a small round table. On it was a glass case.

Kairi walked into the room, starring intently at the glass case. She stared at what was inside when she got up to it.

Inside was a glass heart.

It was put together like stained glass, with various different hues of red and black. And revolving around that were two smaller hearts, not made of glass. They glowed a faint pink colour. Kairi reached out a hand to touch the glass case, but almost instantly something pushed her away. She heard a venomous hiss.

"_What are you doing here?_"

Kairi couldn't move, her eyes still not very well adjusted to the little light in the room. She felt her body be pushed backwards, and her back slammed against the wall. It held her against the wall with a vice like grip, its claws sinking into her flesh.

The creature before her almost looked human. Its flesh was completely black, along with its hair and clothes, although the cape it wore was more of a dark blue colour. Its eyes were a sickly yellow-green.

There was no doubt in her mind. This was the so called prince, Sora.

"Why are you here?!" He barked at Kairi. She felt her body tense, pain erupted from her back. "WHY?!" He barked again, she could see the distress in his eyes, she could feel the pain from his heart.

"I-I'm s-sorry for coming into your r-"

"No! Why did you come back?! Why! You could have run away, why did you come back?!" Kairi stared at his cold eyes. She'd never thought of why. It was true, she could have run away, but she came back. Suddenly, Kairi realized that she had nowhere else to go. She had sold her home; her horse had run away, her father was dead. There was nothing for her now. Tears began to swell in her eyes and she closed them in despair.

Suddenly she felt something ice cold against her lips. She opened her eyes and saw that it was the former prince who was pressing his lips against hers in a forceful kiss. The grip he had on her loosened and Kairi felt her body relax slightly. She wasn't sure how long they had been like that, but a sharp crack tore the two apart.

Sora's head whipped around to look at the glass case. He let go of Kairi, letting her slide down the wall leaving a red smear of blood. He leapt over to the table, looking at it intently with his yellow-green eyes. Kairi heard another crack, like sheets of ice breaking apart. He gasped and Kairi saw a pink dust float up off the heart and then settle down at the bottom of the case. Sora lowered his head so that his bangs fell over his brightly coloured eyes, hiding them from view. Kairi looked on, and could have sworn that she saw something fall from his eyes. Slowly he lifted his arm and pointed to the door.

"Leave," he choked out. When Kairi only stared at him with wide, frightened eyes he yelled this time, "I said leave!"

This time, Kairi didn't hesitate. She got up onto her feet and ran from the room. She ran until she was at the stair case.

"Kairi? Wh- You're bleeding!" Roxas cried like he was startled. Kairi ran down the stairs and wrapped her arms around him. She buried her face in his shoulder, and started to cry. She cried for herself, she cried for her father. But most of all, she cried for the broken hearted prince.

xXx

Later that afternoon, Kairi found herself staring out her bedroom window. Namine had insisted that she re-bandage all of Kairi's wounds. Although Sora had given her some fresh wounds, they weren't that bad.

Roxas seemed to be completely unsettled though by Kairi's small encounter. He told her that she should go back there, no matter what. But Kairi was determined too. She wasn't going to just sit there like a prisoner. She hoped that Sora would be in a better mood, and with that thought in mind; Kairi got up from her bed and walked out the door and down the hallway that would lead her once again to Sora.

Kairi came upon the door to his room, slightly ajar as it had been before. As she looked in she saw that the room was lighter then before; the curtains fully open to allow the sunlight, or what ever of it managed to get through the cloud cover, into the room. She could see where her blood was smeared on the floor and the dried substance staining the carpet. And on the other side of the room, sitting on all fours, was none other than Sora. Kairi took a deep breath and walked into the room as calmly as she could. She sat down right beside Sora despite all of her instincts trying to tell her to keep her distance.

"It's nice isn't it?" She asked looking out at the forest just outside the window. Kairi watched Sora carefully from the corner of her eye, ready to bolt if need be.

He grunted and said with a monotone voice, "not that I can really appreciate it." Kairi could hear the slight hint of sadness.

"Hmm…" Was all Kairi could muster. There was a long period of silence after that. Kairi was unsure what she could possibly say.

"You know, you really shouldn't be here," Sora said at last, turning his head slightly to look at Kairi.

She scoffed, "what makes you say that?"

"Well I think earlier would be a good reason."

"Not good enough," Kairi replied whimsically. It was laughable to her; she'd just possibly started a petty argument with someone who could kill her in an instant. But, he hadn't yet. Sora furrowed his brow and looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Roxas told you to stay away too, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's a stick in the mud," Kairi scrunched up her nose. To her surprise Sora chuckled, and she couldn't help but smile.

"That may be true, but that doesn't mean he isn't right."

"Well, that's too bad now isn't it? Because I'm not moving just because you, or Roxas, tell me too," Kairi stuck out her tongue trying to show just how serious she was. Sora shook his head and sighed.

"Fine. Be that way."

"I will."

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER. Haha... seems the more I write this, the crappier it gets =_= I'm soo sorry. There's only going to be 3 or so chapters left. Short, I know but if I keep dragging on I'm going to lose intrest permanently! So let's see... we've seen three sides of Sora now, right? The truly heartless one, the incredibly scared one, and this last one! What's going on here?! Well, you can probably guess what's going on, but I'm not going to say for sure! ^w^ And the next chapter will surprise you. I assure that you will NEVER see it coming. Ever.**

**THANKYOU TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED LAST CHAPTER! Chasingfireflies(who got a mention in this chapter! Go find it XD), ****Miss Captain-Mad Dog Vane, and khfan forlife!!!!! THANKYOU AND I HOPE YOU DON'T HATE ME ;-;**


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